Many camping enthusiasts prefer pickup truck mounted campers or tents over trailers or free-standing tents because of the convenience and security these shelters afford. As a result, several different types of pickup truck mounted campers and tents have been developed over the years to meet the needs of those seeking a comfortable, convenient home-away-from home for travel or weekend outings.
Hard shell or rigid campers have long been known to the art. These campers typically comprise a rigid metal or wooden frame covered by a metal, plastic, or fiberglass shell. However, because of this construction, hard shell campers tend to be heavy and bulky. Users often find that they are difficult to remove from the bed of the truck should the truck is required for other purposes. Further, hard shell campers typically extend above the cab of the truck creating aerodynamic drag which increases the truck's fuel consumption and impairs its handling characteristics at highway speeds.
In an attempt to solve these and other problems associated with hard shell campers, collapsible campers were developed. A typical collapsible camper is disclosed by Robertson, U.S. Pat. No. 4,294,484. Like the Robertson camper, most collapsible campers include a rigid top disposed over the bed of the pickup truck. This rigid top may be elevated to a position several feet above the bed of the truck to form the roof of the camper structure. However, users often find that setting up the typical collapsible camper at the campsite is complex and time consuming. Additionally, collapsible campers like their hard shell counterparts, tend to be heavy and bulky, and may be difficult to install and remove from the truck.
Closely related to collapsible campers are tent campers which may be erected in the bed of a pickup truck. For example, Arganbright, U.S. Pat. No. 4,263,925, Biller, U.S. Pat. No. 4,310,194, Baker, U.S. Pat. No. 4,332,265, and Mahan, U.S. Pat. No. 4,652,040 all disclose variations of tents type campers comprising a tent fabric stretched over a modular frame which must be assembled and erected in the bed of a pickup truck. As with collapsible campers, tent campers may be difficult to assemble or erect. Thus, much time may be wasted setting up these shelters at the campsite.
Although most camping enthusiasts enjoy the spaciousness provided by the campers and tents disclosed in the prior art, many would prefer to spend the time necessary to set these campers up in pursuits such as sightseeing, hiking, fishing, and the like. Consequently, these users desire a simple pickup truck mounted tent that can be set up in a few easy steps to provide a basic shelter in which to sleep. Thus, it is desirable to provide a lightweight pickup mounted tent which is easily and quickly erected by the user.